RANDOM THOUGHTS ON MY TRIP TO YERCAUD

I blinked my eyes quick, asking my human camera to capture the breathtaking view! God clicked from above too! And then, roared with loud laughter!

Hills- bathed in twilight. Light! Misty views. A crack of lightening. Thunder. Copse of trees. The valleys below looking like million glittering gems were strewn! A heavenly scent- a mix of trees, wet earth, rain, dried leaves, slush. Overcast skies. A world bathed in blue. Hairpin bends. The valley alternating with buttresses holding back the excited hill soil. Contoured face of the hills further hand-moulded to make way for vehicles.

Threatening bundles of clouds-sagging with the water within- resembling pregnant women with their bulge; looking menacingly at the earth in one of her mood swings!

Ah… the hills are an alluring constantly enticing lot!

It looked like a setting of some horror movie- an estate house- with its clichéd asphalt stone masonry and curtained windows; a lonely guy sitting on the doorstep; the hill steeply climbing up. And as you opened your mouth wide to exclaim on what a lovely setting it made, lightening cleaved the sky and thunder bellowed like an evil laughter. Were they celebrating Halloween up there in the heavens?!

Pitch darkness. Hilltop. Seven human beings standing. Looks like no others exist in the world save us! An ethereal feeling. The heavens huddle together for a good cry. A streak of lightening. The Chinese entrance to the Pagoda Point gets illuminated. Suddenly it feels as bright as day. Brilliant luminous with a shine at the edges. We look down at the valley. Once more it looks like God has opened his bag of gems very clumsily and spilt and scattered its contents- necklaces of diamonds, rubies, amethysts lay lined below!

Once more lightening strikes. We are urged to take a walk till the tip. But the fear multiplies like the lightening! We are on top of the hill and surrounded by trees- two things not too encouraging for us to risk it. Moreover, wild bisons were supposed to be on the prowl in the vicinity and known to chase and attack in the night. And it was 9 in the night but looking like midnight.

But oh, we were almost near the tip of the hill and the whole world lay strewn- in its myriad colours at my feet!

Being on top of the world literally DOES make you feel near heaven- giving you an out-of-the-world experience!

Man’s power- to have shaped nature according to his whim- created a settlement on top of a hill- breaking mountains, rolling off stones, holding back the rest of the hill from sliding down in jury; oh- such a proud yet humbling feeling!

And at that moment- at the top of the hill- somehow my life seemed to have clinched a new ‘height’, fulfilled an old wish, attained more meaning and somehow- a better person seemed to have emerged…